


Jealousy and a Turkey Sandwich

by whatwecan



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Light Angst, Stress Eating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-19
Updated: 2016-09-19
Packaged: 2018-08-16 03:08:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8084383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatwecan/pseuds/whatwecan
Summary: After the Doctor's regeneration, Rose brings him a sandwich.





	

**Author's Note:**

> 2014 dwsecretsanta gift for sequence-fairy! Have a merry merry Christmas

It all started with a turkey sandwich.

Just before the divine moment, when all of time and space was condensed into a single point, a point of infinite time and dense glittering potential… before the stars exploded in a mad rush to populate the sky, to lure sailors to new worlds, to tempt young lovers with sweet diamond bright promises… before gravity, before galaxies, before the breath of life it’s self… was a turkey sandwich.  
A rather ordinary sandwich at that, even if it did have his favorite spicy mustard.

The Doctor sniffed it, took an experimental bite. 

Rose picked at an imagined bit of fluff on her sleeve.

“You left so quickly, I wasn’t sure if… I thought maybe you were tired. But then I remembered how you always used to like a late night snack so I thought…”

Cheek full of bread and meat, the Doctor looked up at Rose. She looked uncharacteristically nervous. Oh Rassilon, what if this was it? He’d thought she had adjusted to the new body pretty well, she’d even agreed to come travelling with him again. But what if she’d just been shining him along?

Or worse, what if she’d noticed the hunger in his eyes? The hunger that, in his last body, he’d always been able to hide behind front of false joviality and even falser distain for her human customs and beliefs. 

Now here she was, coming to inform him that she didn’t much fancy bouncing around the universe with him after all, and here, how about a delicious Trojan horse as a consolation prize. 

Somehow, with out realizing it he’d devoured nearly half of it already. Apparently this body liked to stress eat.

The Doctor hungrily eyed the other half of the traitorous sandwich. Even if it was a hangman’s meal she’d been thoughtful enough to make it just the way he liked it. 

“…So you still like to eat at night then?”

The Doctor just nodded, licking a smear of mayonnaise from his thumb. Rose chewed her lip a bit. Should he have offered her a bite? They’d shared chips off the same plate on their first date, was sharing a sandwich too intimate for their last?

“…ummm and you still like that mustard my mum buys.”

The Doctor nodded. Humans had such bizarre breakup rituals. Not that he and Rose had ever really been together… outside of what he’d told Jack anyway. Still this conversation was veering in an odd direction. 

“Are there maybe… other things you still like? Or I dunno…” a gentle flush was spreading across Rose’s cheeks. “…maybe you just started liking?”

He still liked fantasizing about snogging her senseless when she chewed her lip like that, of the faint taste of tea and lemon and human on her breath, of the way his fingers would dig into her hips as he lifted her onto the console so he could kneel at her feet and bury his face between her thighs. Better not to mention that though. Thoughts like that were probably what got him into this mess in the first place. 

“Rose” if his voice sounded hoarse he would blame it on the regeneration. “I’m the same man, I like the same things I always did. 

Rose nodded, but her expression seemed dissatisfied somehow.

“Right, so like bananas and stuff.” 

“I still like bananas…”

She’d slowly inched herself a step or so closer towards him. But he couldn’t tell if it was nervous pacing or… what?

“You ran out of the flat so quick, you could have stayed longer you know.”

“I just thought maybe you wanted some time alone with Mickey. To say goodbye or…” The Doctor hemmed a little, clearing his throat. “You know, other human stuff.”

Rose looked surprised and blushed a little bit.

“Oh… no… I don’t do that… stuff with Mickey any more.”

Well that was news. They’d been so cozy back in the flat when he’d left, laughing together over old times, Rose had barely looked up when he’d made his excuses and headed back to the Tardis. Mickey on the other hand had shot him a smug glare. He’d just assumed he was the third wheel… well fourth wheel if you count Jackie… however that wheel thing worked. 

“Doctor?…”

She was so close to him now, and it was amazing that, despite having memorized her countless times, he was still noticing new things about Rose Tyler. Her eyes were huge.

“Doctor, back on the game station… why did you kiss me?”

“Oh. You remember that?”

“Yeah… I mean, I know you had to take the vortex out of me and all. Umm thanks.” Rose shrugged “But did you have to kiss me or…”

Here it was, his out, served up on a plate. 

“Wellll there was an awful lot of vortex, and I had to be sure to get it all, and I really wanted to know what you tasted like, and I guess I thought maybe it might be romantic. White knight and all that rubbish.“

The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Was it… romantic?”

Rose just grinned nodding her head.

“You’ve got new tastebuds now right?”

The Doctor stuck his tongue out, crossing his eyes a bit in a mock effort to see them.

“You still like the sandwich, but dunno… Maybe you should check if you still like the taste of other things.”

“That’s a good point Rose Tyler, never can be to careful.”

Timidly, treacle slow, Rose’s eyes rose to meet his. Rose’s hands rose to rest on his shoulders, smoothing down the wool of his suit where there had once been leather. Rose’s heels rose, to bring her to her tiptoes and she wobbled a bit until she leaned into him and he dropped his own hands to her hips to steady her. Rose rose to press her lips sweetly to his. 

And it was too soon, too similar, too close on the heels of that other kiss. The kiss that had slain him, that had saved him sparking tiny kindles of hope that seemed to catch in this body like it was tinder. 

He chased her lips and suddenly it was as if the stars, planets, galaxies… time itself was condensed into that single point where his mouth met hers, where she was pulling his bottom lip between his teeth, where her tongue was… oh it was.

One perfect infinite moment, glittering with potential, and a new universe was born. 

—

Jackie had just finished pouring her morning cuppa into her favorite pastel blue mug when she heard the soft swish of the front door. She gave a glance to the small digital clock in the corner of the kitchen and grinned to herself. 

7:30 am. 

Thirty seconds later Rose appeared in the kitchen, jumping a little in surprise to find her mother there.

“Oh hi Mum, you’re up early.”

“Thought I’d get a jump on cleaning up after last night. It still snowing out there?”

“Mum it’s not…”

Jackie just waved her pink manicured hand in dismissal.

“I know, I know, ash. Honestly I’d rather not think about it.”

“Right well, I’m going to go pack up some things. The Doctor wants to leave later today.”

Rose turned to head back to her room but Jackie stopped her.

“So it worked then, did it?” 

Rose blushed.

“Ha! I knew it. No better way to a man’s heart I always say, than a well timed turkey sandwich!”


End file.
